Lewis Anderson

1922 - 2006

Beloved Clarabell the Clown

Lew Anderson, whose considerable success as a musician, arranger and bandleader paled before the celebrity he achieved as Clarabell the Clown, Howdy Doody's sidekick on one of television's first children's shows, died Sunday in Hawthorne, N.Y.

He was 84 but always felt he was around 25, his son Christopher said. His father died of complications of prostate cancer, he added.

"Well, his feet are big, his tummy's stout, but we could never do without," Buffalo Bob Smith and the kids of the Peanut Gallery sang in appreciation of his character, in a baggy, striped costume, who communicated by honking a horn for yes and no, Harpo Marx style.

Other times, Clarabell the Clown made his feelings known by spraying Buffalo Bob with seltzer, or playing a trick on him that everybody but Bob figured out immediately.

Baby Boomers grew up with "The Howdy Doody Show," which began in December 1947 and ran until Sept. 24, 1960. After 2,243 episodes, it was Clarabell who had the show's last words--and his only words, since he had only honked till then.

The camera moved in for a close-up of Mr. Anderson, who had a tear in his eye. A drumroll grew louder and then died.

With quivering lips, Clarabell whispered, "Goodbye, kids."

Lewis Burr Anderson was born in 1922 in Kirkman, Iowa. The son of a railroad telegrapher, he began playing his sister's clarinet when she tired of it, and soon had his own band.

He attended junior college in Ft. Dodge, Iowa, and Drake University in Des Moines.

Mr. Anderson enlisted in the Navy during World War II and started a band between battles in the Pacific theater.

After leaving the service, Mr. Anderson toured the Midwest with bands. In the late 1940s, he joined the Honey Dreamers, a singing group that appeared on radio and early television shows like "The Ed Sullivan Show." The group appeared on a musical variety television show Buffalo Bob Smith produced for NBC.

When the Clarabell the Clown part opened up on Smith's other show, "Howdy Doody," Smith and the other producers asked Mr. Anderson if he could juggle. "No." Dance? "No." Magic tricks? "No." What can you do? "Nothing."